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No. 1 UCLA (32-2) faces No. 5 Ole Miss (22-10) in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington, on Friday.
The Bruins earned a Sweet 16 ticket after beating No. 16 Southern (84-46) and No. 8 Richmond (84-67) while the Rebels advanced to the last-16, outclassing No. 12 Ball State (83-65) and No. 4 Baylor (69-63) in the first two rounds.
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The winner goes on to the Elite Eight and meets the victor of the LSU versus NC State encounter.
UCLA vs Ole Miss prediction
UCLA was on fire early, beating ranked teams Louisville, South Carolina, Michigan, Baylor, Maryland and Ohio State en route to a 23-0 start. They held to the No. 1 spot in the AP poll for 12 weeks before losing to perennial rival USC on Feb. 13.
After the loss, they won four straight games, outplaying No. 22 Michigan State, No. 25 Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, before losing again to USC for the Big Ten regular season title.
The Cori Close-coached team bounced back in the Big Ten women's tournament, outclassing Nebraska and Ohio State to arrange a showdown and third meeting with USC. The Bruins exacted revenge on USC to earn an automatic March Madness bid.
Lauren Betts leads the UCLA offense, averaging 19.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.9 blocks per game. She's ably assisted by Kiki Rice, who has tallied 13.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.9 apg and 1.5 apg. Gabriela Jaquez and Londynn Jones were the other top producers for the Bruins, averaging a combined 18.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 4.1 apg.
On the other hand, Ole Miss went 9-3 in the non-conference rounds, with their notable games against USC, UConn and NC State ending up in defeats. The Rebels had a 2-2 start before winning six of their next eight games to move up to 8-4 and 17-7 overall. They went 3-3 the rest of the way but still earned an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament thanks to their 20-10 record.
Five players average at least 9.2 ppg for Ole Miss, with Madison Scott leading the charge with 12.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.8 apg and 1.0 spg. Kenendy Todd-Williams, Star Jacobs, Sira Thiennou and KK Deans provide help for Scott, combining for 42.4 ppg, 18.3 rpg, 8.1 apg and 6.5 spg.
UCLA opens as an 8.5-point favorite against Ole Miss and the total is pegged at 134. The underdog Rebels hold a +322 moneyline while UCLA is at -429.
Prediction: UCLA Bruins 71, Ole Miss Rebels 63
UCLA vs Ole Miss odds
UCLA vs Ole Miss head-to-head
UCLA and Ole Miss will play against each other for the first time.
How to watch UCLA vs Ole Miss?
The UCLA-Ole Miss Sweet 16 encounter will tip off at 10:00 p.m. ET at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington. ESPN will cover the game on live television while the ESPN App will present it via live stream.
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